Gothic 1 Remake

The Gothic Remake carries the spirit of the original and overall does things pretty well and in the right way, although there are still things that need to be fixed and worked on for future titles. Combat The combat system is really good, with all the weapon progression, techniques and variations. I found it fluid and fun, and you feel fully in control of your next move. Later in the game, though, the damage calculations become weird and it starts to feel like the type of weapon you are using doesn’t mean that much anymore. In later game chapters you find yourself constantly healing back and forth most of the time with this rune that you get, which becomes quite repetitive Enemy fighting AI could be better as well, especially when enemies lose track of you just because you’re moving around. Bows and crossbows also become mostly irrelevant later in the game. It could have been useful to have the possibility to jump while using them, especially when trying to get to higher ground. Quests and progression Some of the quests, like “Chromanin”, were really fun to solve, with the hidden messages in the books you find and the riddles pointing you towards different locations on the map. During one of the quests, there could also have been some NPC help or company while finding the Swampshark Mother, just to make it feel more immersive or the enemy itself look bit different and having unique features. Dialogue timing in some quests and conversations after completing them doesn’t always align with where you are in the game or what situation you’re dealing with at the time. One example is a situation involving Stone and Darrion. Getting weapons and unique versions of them in the original felt like something special. Now, once enough time has passed, you can basically buy most of them from merchants as long as you have enough magic ore, which kills part of that sense of exploration and discovery. The strength requirement for Uriziel later in the game also makes no sense and takes away some of the purpose of all the learning points you’ve invested into strength. There should also have been something similar to the original where consuming a certain amount of apples gives you an extra +1 strength, or mushrooms give you extra mana. Small systems like this made exploration and collecting things feel more rewarding. Exploration and world You can’t really overexplore the game and “sweep” through the entire map. In the original, every chapter would introduce new enemies into different areas. In the remake, if you explore everything too early, later on you can end up wandering through mostly empty land. The addition of riding a scavenger around the map was a fun and good idea, though, and made travelling through already explored parts of the world much better. Underwater exploration was also good, although those brighter “guiding” stream lines felt unnecessary and could have been done in a more subtle way. The exploration was done nicely overall, although some caves were confusing to navigate because there weren’t enough recognisable landmarks or corners. A lot of them simply looked too similar to each other or colors were just "brown everything". Weapons, inventory and loot Some of the later weapons look too magical, soft and almost have that “Marvel” look to them, if that makes sense. The inventory could be sorted better as well. Multiple copies of the same weapon could simply be grouped under one icon with a number showing how many you have, instead of creating the current clutter. Lockpicking difficulty also doesn’t really reflect the reward inside the chest. Some chests are extremely complicated and frustrating to open, even with a higher lockpicking skill. Sometimes you spend 20 minutes opening a chest just to get three “peanuts” and some basic loot inside. NPCs and immersion Beating somebody up, taking all of their things, and then talking to them after they get back up as if nothing happened feels strange. Some kind